Tom Cleverley may yet move to Aston Villa on loan despite the requisite paperwork being late, with the Premier League potentially making a decision by the end of Tuesday.

Villa are expected to try to demonstrate to the Premier League board that while they were late making the application to take Cleverley on a temporary basis, the wheels had been set in motion before the transfer window closed and that the club had tried their best to process everything as soon as possible.

If the appeal is successful it is unclear how this will be received by other clubs, as there may be a sense that Monday evening’s 11pm deadline should be adhered to by every member of the league. United’s loan deal for Radamel Falcao and Arsenal’s £16m purchase of Danny Welbeck were both finalised following the official 11pm cut-off point, however.

Cleverley had initially been a permanent £8m target for Villa before his wage demands caused the club to reconsider. While the 24-year-old earns a basic of only £30,000 a week at United, sizeable add-ons make his terms attractive and, out of contract at the end of this season, Cleverley felt he was in a strong position to negotiate.

However, Villa did not accede to his requests for a weekly salary of around £60,000 a week, leaving Everton as the only club in the frame to sign him. But when the Merseyside club made an offer to United of around £5m, it was rejected.

This alerted Villa to the possibility of reviving their interest in Cleverley, this time by taking him on a loan.

Now, the decision whether he can join Paul Lambert’s side until the end of the season depends on the Premier League’s ruling, with Cleverley conscious he is not in Louis van Gaal’s first-team thoughts.